The Breath Out Of Him
by Dash-Rendar
Summary: Tony's been having nightmares lately... but are they nightmares or premonitions? Slight tie in with my other NCIS story. R & R!


NCIS

NCIS

The Breath Out Of Him

A/N: This story has a slight tie in with my other story, _The Last Days of Anthony DiNozzo_. You'll know what it is when you read it. There is a reference to a video game I recently played hidden in here as well. If you can find it and point it out, I'll give ya bonus points. Also, I have not seen the episode where Kate dies, so I am making my own version of it.

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or any of the character affiliated with said show, but I do own the character of Sergeant Jamisyn Roberts.

--

Tony sat upright in bed, his uncovered chest glistening with fresh sweat, breathing heavily, eyes filled with fear. He'd been having the same nightmare for weeks on end and each time it ended the same way.

He would move to open the bag, but the zipper got stuck each time just before the facial region of the body. After grunting helplessly, he gave up and resorted to ripping the bag open. Each time he wished he hadn't, for sitting on Ducky's medical table was the cold, lifeless body of NCIS Special Agent Katelyn Todd, eyes closed and a very large hole from a bullet between her eyes.

"Oh come on DiNozzo. It's just a bad dream, man. Kate isn't going to die, especially not on my watch."He gulped in some air, pushed the covers off with his feet and climbed out of bed, rubbing his face as he moved to get a hot shower. The only sound in his apartment was the padding of his feet across the Italian rosewood flooring as he moved along.

After his long, hot shower, which made him feel a lot better, he glanced at the clock above the breakfast nook. 5:45 AM. Perfect, just perfect. He wasn't due into the office until 7:00 and it was only a half-hour drive. Finishing his toast and coffee, he grabbed his jacket, car keys and his cell phone, bringing up Kate's number as he walked.

The phone rang twice before she answered. "Morning Tony," she said, trying very hard not to sound tired or upset that he had called at quarter to six in the morning.

"Morning," he replied. "I was wondering if you'd let me treat you to breakfast and coffee on the way to work this morning. Your choice of restaurant." He reached the parking garage of his apartment complex and climbed into his car, turning the engine over as he waited for a response.

Kate sighed. "I suppose it won't hurt. Give me ten to make myself presentable." She didn't wait for a response as she hung up, moving to get dressed. "Kate, I don't know what you're doing, but I think you've lost what sanity you have left," she said to herself as she made her way to the bathroom. "You just accepted to have breakfast with DiNozzo, after the stunt he pulled two weeks ago."

A few minutes later, she heard his car pull up outside her small house, and he honked once, which lasted about 2 seconds. She waved at him from the window, showing two fingers and motioned about combing her hair. He merely rolled his eyes but nodded.

At exactly 6:05 AM, she walked out the front door, her dark brown hair in a ponytail, wearing a red blouse under a black sports coat with matching black slacks. Opening the door, she climbed into the passenger seat and said, "Morning Tony. What brought this around? Another bout of cancer?"

He stepped down on the gas, hard, snapping Kate forward into her seat belt, causing her to grunt loudly. "Very funny, Kate," he said, accenting her name with a gruff tone, almost matching the coarse fibers of his car seat. "I just decided to be a gentleman… and I wanted to share something with you, but the phone wasn't going to cut it," he said, adding the last bit when she raised her phone and wiggled it in the air as if to say, 'Are you mute, stupid or both? I have a phone you know!'

She raised an eyebrow at him, but sighed and said, "Alright Tony. Oh, turn here. We can get to one of my favorite breakfast joints this way and still make it to work on time."

Nodding, he turned the car onto the designated road and asked, "So where are we eating this fine Thursday morning, Miss Todd?' he asked as he drove. The radio was playing his favorite modern rock station and currently the DJ had just announced that "Coming up, we got a five in a row set, featuring 'Breath' by a band I have only just recently heard of, Breaking Benjamin. Following that, we have 'Face Down', 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams', 'Satch Boogie' for all you Joe Satriani fans out there, and closes with 'Fake It' by Seether. This is DJ RJ for Rock 102.8 FM."

Tony began tapping his left foot in time with the drum groove on the Breaking Benjamin track, as Kate replied, "It's a newer chain that just came in a few months ago, Canadian based. It's called Tim Hortons, and their coffee is absolutely phenomenal." She asked, "So what is it you wanted to talk about?"

"Do you believe in precognition, Kate?" The car hit a small speed bump, causing the passengers to rise an inch off their seats before sinking back in.

She looked at him funny. "You mean the power to see things before they happen? I don't really think it exists, people just get scammed by psychics into believing that kinda stuff." Turning, she looked at him as he drove. "Why, think you've had a precognitive dream?"

He was about to respond when she said, "Tony, turn! Drive thru is coming up!"

He pulled the car into the parking lot and shut off the ignition. "We got time. Let's go inside. Besides, I always hate how the attendants pressure you at the drive in lane to make an order, even though I've never seen the menu before." He took the keys out of the ignition and stuck them in the pocket of his leather jacket.

Shrugging, she said, "Whatever works for you, I guess." Slinging her purse over her shoulder, she closed her door behind her and walked through the restaurant door that Tony held open for her. Joining the growing line of customers, she scanned the menu board for something that sounded good, while Tony did the same.

The line was moving very quickly and they were at the front counter. A female attendant whose nametag read 'Janelle' asked, "What can I get you?"

"Large coffee, black, and a sausage biscuit with the hash brown you got advertised out front," Tony said, then looked at Kate for her to place her order.

"Same as my friend here, but a large single cream for the coffee please." She reached for her purse, but Tony slapped her hand away, reaching for his wallet simultaneously. She then remembered his offer to pay for breakfast and muttered, "Sorry Tony, forgot about your offer."

He smiled, paid the attendant and moved to the side to wait for their order to be ready. "So you think that precognition is a load of bull?" he asked, leaning on the counter, looking at her over the top of his sunglasses. He smiled as he took the tray from Janelle and said, "Thank you." He moved towards a table in the far corner, directly under a music speaker that was blaring the same station that he had in his car. It was on the last song of the five-song set. The gritty vocals of Shaun Morgan were singing- _I can fake with the best of anyone; I can fake with the best of 'em all_.

Kate said, "That singer just said it all in two lines. People fake this kind of stuff. They have people paid off in advance to make sure that whatever they said would happen would happen so that they get good ratings. It's how people make money in the world of mysticism Tony." She opened the lid of her coffee and took a sip of it, followed by a bite of her hash brown.

He followed suite, but in reverse order. Upon swallowing his coffee, he said, "Well I'm starting to think someone upstairs is trying to tell me something." He looked at her, hoping she'd not laugh him out of town with his tail between his legs.

"Been having creepy dreams or something? Thinking God is trying to tell you of an event to come in the future and maybe you can do something to prevent it?"

Nodding, Tony laid out the dream in vivid detail, and Kate pushed her sandwich away from her. "Tony, how long have you been having this dreams?" She had paled visibly in a matter of seconds and she had lost her appetite.

"At least two weeks. Everything is the same and I've tried everything to NOT have the dream. Watched movies before going to bed, reading before sleeping, having warm milk, which by the way was incredibly nasty, and I'll leave my last option off the table."

She said, "You may as well tell me, seeing as I've already lost my appetite. Nothing is worse than that dream you just told me about." She still sipped on her coffee. Bad mistake.

"I watched a few porn movies online before sleeping, thinking I'd be dreaming of chicks instead of that." This caused Kate to spew her hot coffee into his face, making Tony grumble, "I just had this thing cleaned too! Great!"

"I didn't need to hear that this early in the morning, DiNozzo. Now I've _really_ lost my appetite. Not sure if I can eat after this." She slung her purse over her shoulder and rose, heading out to his car. "We should be going if we want to get there on time. Knowing Gibbs he's already there, wondering where we are."

He scarfed down what was left of his food and grabbed his coffee to go. "Hey, you asked what I did, Kate. This is me we're talking about here." He opened his door and climbed in, turning the engine over as she buckled herself in.

"Just shut up and drive Tony," Kate muttered, shaking her head in disgust.

--

"Nice to see you two finally showed up," Gibbs said, reaching into his desk drawer and pulled out his pistol, slamming a fresh clip into the base as he moved towards the elevator from where they had just come. "We got a suspect for a murder of Navy Colonel. Grab your gear, let's go."

Looking at one another, they shrugged, grabbing their gear and ran back to the elevator. "Who's this scum bag we're going after?" Tony asked, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"An old friend of yours Tony. Remember Sergeant Roberts? Well, he's the prime and only suspect. Finger prints on the bullet that killed our Colonel and has no alibi for his whereabouts that night. As far as we're concerned, we're bringing him in for questioning."

Kate looked at Tony. "You know each other? How does that work?"

Tony said, "We used to work together on the Baltimore PD. He was in Forensics and I was on the main foot patrol. We would have a few drinks now and again after hours and off record, but he should have been discharged months ago. He has a very short temper and is often know to make threats to fellow officers and follows through with them." The elevator stopped at the garage. Moving as one unit, they all climbed into a black Charger and, with Gibbs at the helm, rocketed out of the garage, nearly making Tony lose his lunch, or rather, breakfast.

Not a few short minutes later, they had arrived at the local Navy training range. Flashing his badge, Gibbs moved forwards and tapped Sergeant Roberts on the shoulder. "You're under arrest for the murder of Colonel Joshua Starke. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney…" Gibbs kept talking and moved forward with the Sergeant.

Tony looked on and sighed. "I somehow expected a fire fight to break out. Maybe a missed training shot from a sniper nearby hits someone by mistake, they think one of us fired the shot."

A loud explosion came from the nearby field, causing everyone to drop to the ground. During this the Sergeant took the advantage and started running. "What the hell was that?" Gibbs asked, still shaking from the aftershock.

"A distraction. Looks like a training bomb went off and he knew it was going to go off. What next? He has an accomplice hiding in the trees with a gun, ready to shoot down the team who took him in?" Tony said, with a laugh.

A cocking sound came from behind him, causing him to gulp and turn around to see the Sergeant behind him, hands in front of him holding his sidearm. "Sorry Tony… can't let this get out. I did it, but I did it because I had to, but who's going to believe me?" He aimed the gun at his former friend's head and just as he was about to pull the trigger, Kate tackled him at the knees, causing him to fall.

"You leave my partner alone, you dirty scum bag. I'm amazed you managed to make it into the corps," she said, chest heaving. She reached behind her to get her cuffs and when she came back, the black barrel of a gun was stuck in her direction.

"Nobody has ever taken me down and lived to tell about it," he said. It was then that things seemed to move in slow motion for Tony.

Gibbs started to move forward to stop the shot from happening, but he was too slow. The gun fired, sounding like thunder. The bullet ripped from the gun straight into Kate's stomach, causing her to fall backwards. She landed with a thud, handcuffs rolling away from her. Sergeant Roberts started to run with Gibbs in hot pursuit.

Tony felt like the breath had been sucked out of him and he couldn't get anymore air into him. He crawled forwards, cradling Kate in his arms as tears filled his eyes. "I'm sorry Kate," he choked out, a single tear falling onto her face. "I shoulda stopped that bastard in his tracks before he could do anything else."

She was started to breathe heavily now, chest heaving with the effort of breathing. "It's okay Tony. None of us… saw it coming…" She smiled at him, her suit covered in blood. "I couldn't… have asked… for a better… partner."

He leaned down and lightly kissed the top of her head. "Neither could I, Kate. Neither could I." He pulled her into his chest and simply held her before his instincts kicked in. Ripping off his shirt, he began to apply heavy pressure to the wound. "That is why I'm not going to let you die." He used his free hand and called 911. "We have a wounded officer at the Bethesda Naval Base. Get a crew down here, STAT!" He hung up and put all of his weight on the wound, breathing in gasps.

Kate winced at the pain and said, "Tony… if I live through this, I will not… let you live down… that kiss."

He grinned. "Ah, you know you liked it. Besides, it's your word against mine. Gibbs was off chasing Roberts at the time." The sound of sirens was heard and Tony breathed, "Thank God." He eased up a little on the pressure as the paramedics began to lift her onto a stretcher. "I'm coming with you guys," he said to the medics, who nodded.

--

A few hours later, a doctor gave Tony and Gibbs the news. "She's lost too much blood. Your pressure application at the scene only delayed the inevitable. We can't give her any blood. The body is in too much shock right now to accept any medication. The bullet is also too far in her stomach to retrieve it safely. We have stopped the bleeding, but her system is shutting down as we speak. She has maybe four hours tops." He turned and walked away, as his name was just called on the loudspeaker to visit another patient.

Tony smacked the wall with his fist harder than he had meant and left a large dent. "Dammit! I coulda stopped this if I had been a second faster! This is all my fault!" He reached down and pulled off his badge and gun, handing them to Gibbs and he began to walk off.

Before he had taken two more steps, Gibbs smacked him in the back of the head, hard. "Where the hell do you think you're going DiNozzo? You just gonna give up after one failed attempt?"

"You're damn right I am! If I can't save her, what makes you think I can save anyone else?"

Gibbs shoved the badge and gun into his chest. "You've saved countless people Tony. The next time you give me those, you better be ready to walk off and never look for a job as a federal agent again." He nodded down the hall. "Go say goodbye to Kate. That's an order." He turned and walked away, leaving Tony standing alone in the hallway.

Sighing, he walked down the corridor and found the room, which read TODD, K. Opening the door, he stuck his head in. "Can I come in?"

Kate, wearing a hospital gown, hair tied back in a ponytail, grinned at him. "Hey Mr. Hero. Come on in." She sat up a little bit, propping herself on her elbows. "Heard the bad news eh?"

He nodded. "Yeah, afraid so. I still can't but help feeling I'm responsible. I could have stopped it. I was just in too much shock." He sat down beside her on the bed. Shaking his head, he felt two tears leak from his eyes and roll down his cheeks. "I'm sorry Kate… I really am."

Kate smiled at him… and then smacked him in the back of the head. "Rule number 1 – never apologize. It's a sign of weakness." She held out her arms and said, "Gimme a hug."

He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her, breathing in the scent of her perfume and her shampoo. He didn't want this moment to ever end.

She whispered in his ear, "I'm going to be fine, DiNozzo. I told the doctor to bluff you."

He pulled back sharply and stared at her. "You did WHAT?!" When he saw the twisted grin on her face, he knew she was telling the truth. "You little witch!" He laughed and gave her another hug. "When do they put you back on active duty?"

She smiled at him. "Right as soon as you admit that I got you good. They gave me some blood transfusions, so I'm good to go. I'll be back tomorrow, first thing. I had Abby drive my car down, so I can leave and be to work for 7:00." She leaned forward and gave Tony a kiss on the cheek. "Doc says if it wasn't for you, I'd be dead. You're my hero Tony. You got plans for Friday night? If not, I think a reward is order. My place for dinner and a movie."

"Sounds good. I'll clear my schedule." He pulled out his PDA and gasped in mock horror. "Wow, there's nothing to clear!"

The doctor came in and said, "You've got to leave now, sir. Miss Todd needs her rest. She will see you in the morning." The doctor ushered him out. Tony went back out to his car and drove home, smiling to himself.

--

At 7:00 the next morning, Kate didn't show. 7:30, she was still not there. Tony began to get worried at 8:00 and called her cell. Nothing.

On the news, he saw something that made him gasp in horror. "This morning, there was a shooting outside the Bethesda Naval Hospital. A young NCIS officer, Katelyn Todd, had just been released from a gunshot wound that had happened early yesterday afternoon, when an armed assailant attempted to steal her handbag. She resisted and was shot. We have footage of the fight from the security cameras. We advise that if any children are in the room, this is very graphic content."

Tony collapsed into his chair and stared at the screen and saw the final shot in slow motion. A gunshot wound to the head, right between the eyes.

--

A/N: Finished the story. Hope you all enjoyed my wonderful tale. My death probably wasn't quite as glamorous as the show made it, but I thought it was pretty good. Reviews would be wonderful.

Love, peace and chicken grease!

Dash


End file.
